Brian Aitken was a finance student at NYU, an economic scholar at the Foundation of Economic Education, a father, an entrepreneur, mountain climber, and so many other things. One of the things that he was not, however, was a criminal. No one, not the judge, jury, or prosecutor disputes the fact that there were no victims in Brian Aitken’s case. Regardless, he’s currently serving 7 years in state prison for a crime that thousands of people maintain he didn’t commit.

On January 2, 2009 Brian was arrested for illegal possession of firearms while moving from one residence from another. All of the firearms were legally owned—Brian passed three different FBI background checks to purchase and had even cleared an FBI screening for employment as a data researcher handling confidential information for a banking security software firm. His integrity, character, and right to own was not in question…so what was?

New Jersey statutes make it illegal for anyone without a concealed carry permit to possess a firearm even if it’s otherwise lawfully owned. The only way to lawfully possess firearms in New Jersey is through exemptions to the law like driving to and from a shooting range or moving residences. However, as they are exemptions from the law they must be raised during trial therefore removing the presumption of innocence for the charge of possession.

Brian had just brought his firearms from CO to NJ a week prior to his arrest–in fact, TSA cleared him to fly with them….the same TSA that terrifies five year olds girls and breaks a bladder cancer survivor’s urostomy bag. He had just moved back to an apartment in Hoboken that he had moved out of a month earlier and closed on the sale of his Colorado home 11 days after his arrest.

Several witnesses, including the arresting officer, testified that not only did Brian have multiple residences but that his car was packed with his personal belongings–so much so that it took the police 2 hours and 39 minutes before they found Brian’s guns locked and unloaded in the trunk of his car, exactly as NJ law dictates. Brian knew this because only days earlier he had found out through the NJ state police how to legally transport his firearms in NJ. The officers, believing Brian had done nothing wrong, then offered to leave the firearms at his parents’ house, but when they wouldn’t fit in his father’s safe the supervising officer decided to arrest him instead.

During the next 18 months the prosecutor approached Brian and his attorney with plea offer after plea offer. If Brian pled guilty he’d spend one mandatory year in prison and spend the rest of his life a convicted felon for a crime he didn’t commit….otherwise the prosecutor was seeking the maximum sentence of 10 years. Brian, knowing not only that he had done nothing wrong but knowing that the law didn’t exist to punish innocent people, chose to take his case in front of the jury.

During the trial it became clear to everyone in the courtroom that Brian fit the exemptions of the law for moving between residences. However, the judge withheld the law from the jury, thereby ensuring a guilty verdict. Regardless, the jury returned from deliberation three times specifically requesting to be read the exemptions of the law. One can only assume that this was so they could find Brian not guilty. The judge and the prosecutor made it clear that they had no intention of allowing Brian to walk out an innocent man. They were more interested in a guilty verdict than truth and justice.

Six days later Governor Christie decided not to reappoint Judge James Morley for his misconduct in 2 other cases where Judge Morley sympathized with an off duty police officer who molested farm animals.

Brian was sentenced to 7 years in state prison even though there was no victim, no violence, and no crime. He was sentenced by Judge Haas, whose only knowledge of the case was provided by the prosecutor. Judge Haas did not preside over the case or have access to transcripts of the trial.

Gun owners and non-gun owners alike have banded together, not because this is an obvious Second Amendment issue, but because the judge so blatantly and with complete immunity withheld Brian’s right to a fair trial.

The New Jersey 2nd Amendment Society is hosting a FREE BRING AITKEN rally on December 12th.

How to help: Join Brian's Facebook Page, donate to his cause, and write a letter to the Governor requesting clemency! FREE BRIAN AITKEN!

EVERYTHING Brian Aitken was or had worked for was wiped away one winter afternoon after his mother called the police on him.

Separated from his wife, the entrepreneur and media consultant, now 27, had moved back home to New Jersey from Colorado toward the end of 2008 to be closer to their young son.

In between jobs, his well-oiled life was running ragged, and on Jan. 2, 2009, when his ex canceled his visit with their son, he became distraught, muttered something to his mother, and left his parents' home in Mount Laurel, N.J.

"He said something that scared her, things that a guy will only say to his mom, like . . . 'Life's not worth living anymore,' " said Larry Aitken, Brian's father.

Sue Aitken, a trained social worker, decided to play it safe and called police, but she hung up before the 9-1-1 dispatcher could answer. Police traced the call and showed up anyway, and found two handguns in the trunk of Brian's car. And now Brian, her middle child, a graduate student with no prior criminal record, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for weapons charges.